Lt-Gen Yawdserk, the leader of the Restoration Council of Shan
State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), said yesterday he agreed with the
resolutions passed by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC)
led conference late last month.

“They stand for what the people really desire,” he told SHAN. “My
only criticism is that it is too early to issue such calls, since the
most urgent need for the country today is peace and reconciliation.”

One of the resolutions of the UNFC organized Ethnic Conference for
Peace and Reconciliation, 29-31 July, held in Chiangmai, was the total
rejection of the 2008 constitution drawn by the military. It was
followed by a decision to draft a new federal constitution before the
end of the year.

Lt-Gen Yawdserk, the leader of the RCSS (Photo: Shan State Army)

Critics have denounced it as a battle cry for a return to war and confrontation.
“Nobody except for a few likes the 2008 constitution,” he commented.
“But for the sake of peace and reconciliation, what we can do now is its
amendment. Not all of it can be amended at present either. So we need
to consider what should be amended first.”

Earlier, he had told SHAN that the first step in the national
reconciliation process should include: Full autonomy for the states,
election of the state chiefs, and the transformation of the Tatmadaw
into a federal union armed forces. “The country can never become federal
until and unless the armed forces becomes federal first,” he said at
that time.

So far President Thein Sein and his chief negotiator U Aung Min have
both spoken of reviving ethnic armed units that were formed after
Independence, in accordance with the Kandy Agreement. But there is as
yet no concrete proposal how the Union armed forces should be
structured.

The Union parliament, on 21 July, adopted the proposal to form a 109 member joint committee for review of the 2008 constitution.